Have the nerves an influence upon secretion? It is probable they have, as every gland is provided with them; but they by no means exert so immediate an influence upon this function as many physicians have pretended. 1st. It is said that the nerves of the parotid glands have been cut, and that the secretion of the saliva has been suppressed. This division is evidently impossible, since the gland must be extirpated before removing its nerves. 2d. I have divided the nerves of the testicle of a dog, the only gland in which this experiment can be made. I could not obtain any result, because an inflammation of the gland came on and it suppurated; but this suppuration even supposes that the nervous influx is not actually necessary for secretion, since suppuration is accomplished by a mechanism analogous to that of this function. All physicians know that a paralyzed limb can inflame and suppurate. 3d. Erection and the ejection of semen take place in paralysis of the lower half of the body, in which at least the nerves of the prostate gland are completely paralyzed. Mr. Ivan related to me the case of a soldier who took gonorrhœa in this state. 4th. We know that when the bladder is perfectly paralyzed and its nerves have no longer any action, its mucous glands still continue to secrete their fluid so as even to produce a catarrh. 5th. The nostril of the affected side in hemiplegia is as moist as usual. The ear of this side has its ordinary quantity of wax. 6th. In paralysis of the uvula, the action of its glands continues. 7th. When the eighth pair of one side of a dog is cut, the bronchia is found some days after to contain as much mucus as common. 8th. During the convulsions of the different parts in which there are glands, and when consequently the nerves of these glands are more excited, their secretion is not increased. 9th. If we weigh the proofs given by Bordeu of the influence of the nerves on secretions, we shall see, that they either rest upon false facts, like those of the section of the nerve, of sleep, &c. or upon vague data. In general physicians attach no precise idea to the term _nervous influence_; the habit of experimenting shows how much they have abused it. When a nerve being cut, paralyzed or irritated in any manner, the organ which receives it undergoes no derangement in its functions, we certainly are unable to appreciate the nervous influence upon this organ. I do not say that it does not exist, but I maintain that we know nothing about it, and that we ought not to employ at hazard a word to which we cannot attach any precise idea. What word will you employ then to express the influence of the nerves upon the organs of the senses, upon the voluntary muscles, &c. if the same one is used to express an action which has no relation with this, and which perhaps even does not exist? _Exhalants and Absorbents._ This kind of vessels is but little known in the interior of the glands, where they perform only the purposes of nutrition.